Surah Al Kahf- Ayah No 22

Assalam o Alaikum 

Juma Mubarak. Time to thank Allah for letting us see another Friday. Time to seek His protection from evil jinn particularly evil incarnate i.e. dajjal. Allah swt made us with limitation of error, yet it is His mercy that He swt taught us how to return (توبہ) to Him. Likewise, He swt created devil and evil's worst form i.e. the fitn of dajjal and gave them additional powers, yet He swt didn't leave us in the lurch. He swt gave us the gift of Al Kahf for protection. So its quite balanced equation, no one can complain for lesser treatment. Such is the justice of The Most Just alongside His mercy that overrides all His attributes. How unfortunate would it be for us to miss the ocean of mercy and jump straight into small pit of fire. The fire pit has to be small because its owner only built it for deterrence and not to burn all of His beloved creation in it unless we really strive hard for it. In which case, it's all about choices.

Ayah of today itself is a comprehensive lesson on how to approach certain issues. Lets refresh our memory, Jews of Medina tipped off Kuffar of Mecca to ask Prophet PBUH about Al Kahf (along with other two stories about Zulqarnain and Al Rooh) as a test case. He swt exactly knew the next move of obstinate Meccans that they would question the numbers of The Boys. So the Creator of logic, teaches us the logic of numbers in this story. It turned out that numbers were irrelevant. Whether, they were 3 Boys and a dog or 5 Boys and a dog, these were all wild guesses. However, the way 7 Boys and a dog is mentioned it pretty much confirmed the Biblical count of The Seven Sleepers. Still, argument on their numbers would be an argument in vain unless we take away the most important lesson from this story i.e. Tauheed. What difference otherwise the numbers would make if we fail to identify the right lesson from the story.

And He swt categorically forbade to get into futile arguments such as numbers and instructed to reply that Allah swt knew better. If we do that in arguments like these, we can achieve two major benefits. One that we save time and energy to be wasted in useless arguments. Two that we put all our faith in Allah's knowledge and win His favour. Total win-win. 

How amazing is the wisdom of Allah. How amazing were The Boys that their story keeps benefitting the humanity till this day and in times to come.

May Allah keep us among His favoured people. Ameen